Creating a Japanese website for a Japanese audience differs significantly from designing one for the international market. Simply translating an English website into Japanese is not enough. Strategic planning is essential, considering factors such as design preferences, SEO, and user behavior.
This article outlines the key differences between Japanese and English websites and provides essential points for developing a successful Japanese website for the Japan market.
English text tends to be longer than Japanese, requiring wider layouts so you might think that it’s easier to create the layout space for Japanese content.
However, Japanese sentences don’t have space, like example down below:
こんにちは、私はヨーロッパに住んでいる日本人です。
Hello, I am a Japanese who’s living in Europe.
As you can see, Japanese text don’t have space between words like English or other languages.
Proper font sizes, line spacing and inserting new line must be carefully adjusted to ensure readability.
Optimizing an Japanese website requires specific SEO strategies tailored to Japanese-speaking audiences.
Machine translation often fails to capture nuances, tone, and business context accurately. Localization is essential to align the website’s language with its target audience.
For example, if a luxury brand uses casual and playful language, it may weaken its brand.
If the web developer team does not understand Japanese language and Japanese culture well, ensuring the correct tone and nuances becomes even harder.
The mobile-first design is now a standard approach grobally due to the widespread use of smartphones.
Since Japanese sentence is different from other languages in spacing between words, special attention must be given to layout design to maintain readability on different screen sizes.
Creating a Japanese website requires expertise in design, SEO, and localization. Simply applying the same approach used for English websites may result in a site that does not resonate with Japanese users.
To ensure success, it is best to work with a web developer experienced in international markets.
At Goat WebCreation Japan, we provide comprehensive support, from planning and designing multilingual websites to translation and ongoing management.
Regarding Japanese website development, the entire process – including emails and online meetings – is also available in English.
If you’re not sure where to start, feel free to contact us and share your vision—Happy to help you bring your Japanese website to life.